UND92,96

This is probably beyond the scope of the question Miller is posing, but I really don't like watching games at the Betty. I didn't like it when it first opened, and I don't like it now. The lack of a concourse drives me crazy, as I feel like once I'm in my seat, I'm more or less captive until the game is over. At Hyslop, the Ralph or the Alerus, you can/could get up and walk around at halftime, between games or to take a restless kid for a little walk, but that's not a realistic option at the Betty. So from an admittedly selfish point of view, I welcome games at the Ralph. Or the Al for that matter.

Good point, the level of competition may be suspect. But he is ranked quite high by ESPN (#141 shooting guard in the country), which presumably is basing much of the ranking on summer AAU play: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/...cruitId%3D44528

http://www.areavoices.com/gfsports/ This topic has been discussed many times before, but here's another opportunity. Thoughts?

Since we clearly need some positive news relative to UND basketball, Troy Huff appears to be having a very good sr. year: http://www.wissports.net/sports/hoopsb/seasonleaders.asp

IMO, Mitchell needs to be playing inside. He's 6'7", 240 pounds and has above-average athletic ability. Benter and Archer are nice role players, but neither is going to produce many points from the low block. Mitchell has that ability. While he can knock down 3's when he's on, there should be enough other wing players who can also fill that role.

That brings up a point that's bothered me for several years. You need to go all the way back to Jeff Brandt in the 2000-01 season to find the last time UND has had a freshman--whether true or red-shirt--step in and be a double-figure scorer. It seems like that should happen more often than once a decade. The women have gone through a similar drought, albeit shorter, as they haven't had an immediate impact freshman since the back-to-back years where Langen and Kimbrough came in.

While I believe Jones to be a nice person and is undoubtedly working as hard as he can, when you look at the body of work through nearly four full seasons, there simply isn't much reason to expect that things will get better. Let's look at his two best seasons so far: 2007-08 (15-15) 10 of the 15 wins were against: Dickinson St., Minot St., Mayville St., Jamestown, Bemidji St., UMC, Mary (twice) and Upper Iowa (twice). And this was a team that had two or three legitimate dI-caliber players in Little, Youmans and probably Harrison. 2008-09 (16-12) 11 of the 16 wins were against: Bemidji St., Illinois Tech, Wisconsin-Parkside, Valley City St., Dickinson St., UMC, Minot St., Mary, Mayville St., Upper Iowa and Hamline. Prior to this year, about the best thing that could be said about Jones is that he managed to beat the teams he was supposed to beat. Now that we're playing far more challenging schedules, and are probably less athletic than most of our dII years, I just don't see any reason to think more success is on the horizon compared to what we're currently seeing. I hope I'm wrong.

I saw one player who fits that description last night. Unfortunately, he plays for USD and his name is Jake Thomas. And he's a true freshman.

I was there, and while the announced attendance was probably a big stretch, the crowd wasn't bad all things considered. Unfortunately, the play by the home teams was another story...

From today's Herald:

Utah Valley won 86-68.

Interesting article. I didn't realize Jud Heathcote had any ND roots.

A new Tran blog: http://www.areavoices.com/gfhcitybeat/

I have no problem with a game or two per year being at the Ralph. It actually worked out fine 6-8 years ago when there were a number of games there. Of course, with the teams not having impressive records, and the impending winter storm, I'm sure attendance won't be as good as what it was the last time the teams played there, which I believe was about five years ago.

UND currently has an RPI of 173--just barely in the upper half of dI: http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_Women.html

Between having limited options at the point, having no juniors next year and having at least two available scholarships, I think the only real option is to sign a couple of jucos, at least one of whom has to be a point guard, and hope for the best. Next year does look scary, though.

I ran across this list of the top sr. prospects in Minnesota, and Megan Lauck is currently ranked 18th: http://www.gprep.net/200rankings.html There aren't a lot of dI signees ranked below her, but at least there aren't any dII signees ranked above her, either. Allyssa Wall had a big game last week--27 points and 12 rebounds: http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/sports/hig...580abf360a.html I believe Madi Buck was injured in Century's second game and hasn't played since. Siri Burck is averaging 12.6 ppg and 5.4 assists/game. Emily Evers is averaging 8.7 ppg, 8 rpg and 4 blocks/game.

It does. But it probably also is worth mentioning that despite having one of our worst teams of the Roebuck era, only two Summit teams have a higher RPI right now.

If the Sioux can stay healthy (knock on wood), things are looking pretty promising for the rest of the season based upon the current RPI's of Great West teams: 188 UND 209 USD 255 Texas-Pan American 271 NJIT 286 Chicago St. 328 Houston Baptist 335 Utah Valley Particularly considering all the travel UND had this week and the extreme lack of depth, I'd say winning on the road against the second-best team in the conference (on paper) is a pretty good accomplishment.

UND has far fewer question marks heading into than 2010 than there were heading into 2009. Whereas in 2009 we were heading into the season with almost no experience to speak of on offense, in 2010 we should return the qb, rb, top receiver and three full-time offensive line starters plus another who played a lot down the stretch. Somebody will need to emerge at left tackle, and we'll have a new kicker. We also need a couple of receivers to step up and complement Bamba. But as a whole, the offense looks far better for 2010. On defense, we return pretty close to everybody. But some of the freshmen who red-shirted in 2009 will need to step in immediately to provide depth, particularly at linebacker. Although we won't play anybody the caliber of Texas Tech in 2010, the schedule is still quite challenging with a couple of games against FBS teams who played in bowl games in 2009 (Idaho and Northern Illinois), plus a game against FCS runner-up Montana, along with four games against solid Great West Conference teams. The record may not necessarily reflect it, but I do expect a much-improved Sioux team in 2010 compared to 2009.

It certainly appears that the team is playing much better than they were early on. Obviously the level of competition plays a big role there, but nevertheless the shots seem to be falling with more frequency. Considering the relatively soft remaining schedule, finishing above .500 appears quite possible. However, I'd feel a little better about things if we weren't so reliant on the senior class. With the four seniors and two juniors doing virtually all of the scoring, it makes a person wonder where the offense is going to come from next year. We can only hope that next year's freshmen class is a bit more game-ready than this year's has been.

It's interesting how close the four Dakota schools are right now in terms of RPI: 170 SDSU 187 NDSU 194 UND 206 USD I certainly wouldn't have expected UND to be ranked that high given the poor record this year.

Perhaps in a sense, but it was hard to believe UND should be a favorite on the road against anybody in dI, let alone against a team that actually has a couple of dI wins to their credit.

They played Utah Valley in the season opener (at least it was the season opener for Utah Valley--not sure about the Bison).

UND wins 67-62.